Venom (Mac Gargan)
Mac Gargan began his criminal career as the Scorpion. When Norman Osborne broke Mac out of jail, he went to Aunt May's house. The Venom symbiote, which had left it's newly deceased host Angelo Fortunato, approached Mac and bonded with him. Mac becomes the new Venom and later the "Sinister" Spider-Man. Gaining the symbiote Scorpion was recruited b y Norman Osborn, informed of Spider-man's secret identity, and ordered to kidnap Peter's Aunt May if anything should happen to Osborn. In the middle of his task Scorpion was approached by the recently freed Venom Symbiote. Seeking a new host that shared both its hatred of Spider-Man as well as the will and experience of a seasoned criminal, the symbiote bonded with the Scorpion, who eagerly accepted the offer, and was transformed into the monstrous new Venom. Joining the Sinister Six After an elaborate plan paid off and the Green Goblin was out of prison, the Goblin led Spider-Man and the Black Cat into a direct confrontation with the newly formed Sinister twelve, which included the new, more powerful Venom among its ranks. Venom and the Twelve very nearly defeated Spider-Man before the Fantastic Four and a small faction of the Avengers headed by Captain America joined in, leading to the eventual defeat of the Twelve. In the midst of the battle Osborn escaped, with the full intention to murder Peter's wife, Mary Jane. Spider-Man soon followed only to be stopped by Venom. The two foes continued to battle high above on New York's rooftops. After catching Gargan off balance Spider-Man dropped a condemned building on the new Venom, ending the battle. Venom was arrested and sent to Ryker's Island. He promised Spider-Man he would never reveal his identity, as that was his only leverage against him. Gargan escaped Ryker's Island. He journeyed to Battleworld along with a ragtag group including the likes of Henry Pym, Gravity, the Hood, and others, in order to enter a contest of champions. Becoming a Thunderbolt Gargan became a member of a sub-group of the Thunderbolts, which had been drafted by the Avengers to hunt down the members of the fugitive Secret Avengers and was run by the Commission for Superhuman Activities. He was outfitted with electrical implants by the government to keep the symbiote in check. As a Thunderbolt, he was seen as a hero by the general public and had his own action figures. Gargan displayed his new raw power as Venom in a battle with Jack Flag. After pummeling Flag for a bit, the hero managed to stab Gargan, who was protected by his Symbiote. Gargan became enraged and ferociously man-handled Flag, and was about to feast upon his flesh, when his electrical implants kicked in and temporarily subdued him, allowing Flag to live. Gargan expressed fear of the control the symbiote possessed over him, yet he became addicted to the raw unearthly power it brought to him, and could not begin to imagine life without it, similar to a drug addict. Later, during an attack from Steel Spider and Sepulchre, Gargan lost control again, briefly becoming a huge monster once more, while Moonstone was incapacitated and thus could not co-ordinate control of his electrical implants. Afterward, however, he returned to a normal form with no ill effects. Then, he bit off and devoured Steel Spider's arm during a fight. More recently, the Venom symbiote seemed to be reclaiming more and more control, and while Mac showed remorse for his actions, the symbiote started to slowly twist Gargan into a more monstrous character. When Swordsman bombed Thunderbolts mountain, Venom devoured a security team. It is still to be seen whether this behavior was due to the manipulations Mindwave and his crew of recently caught unregistered heroes or the symbiote itself. Gargan was later ordered by Norman Osborn to hunt down Namor. After shooting him with a Thunderbolts-supplied weapon, Gargan disabled Namor by ripping off his feet-wings. However, the Sub-Mariner managed to render Gargan unconscious and then ripped out the symbiote's tongue, although the symbiote easily made a new one. Gargan began to hallucinate that the symbiote was speaking to him, telling him to "feed (it)." He later attacked and devoured a guard and declared that "the only way out of Thunderbolts Mountain is when I decide to let you die". It was later revealed that the psychic criminal Bluestreak was controlling Gargan's actions, although it is uncertain whether the symbiote was actually speaking to him. Venom went up against the Swordsman, who stabbed Gargan through the chest, using his powers to force the symbiote away from his sword. Gargan was wounded, but still alive. After healing, he retained his monstrous form, rarely returning to his usual size. New Ways to Die After the events of Bran d New Day Gargan no longer possessed the knowledge of Spider-Man's secret identity. Gargan and the Thunderbolts are called back to New York to capture Spider-Man. While on a search for the wall-crawler, Gargan's symbiote senses a former host at the F.E.A.S.T center. Gargan suspected that it was Spider-Man and searches the place only to find Eddie Brock. The Venom symbiote attempted to leave Gargan to re-bond with Brock, much to Gargan's (and Brock's) dismay. However, upon making contact with Brock, Brock's skin was shown to be caustic to his former symbiote, and as a white substance seeped out of his pores covering his body, Brock became Anti-Venom and battled Gargan. Gargan was seen being thrown from Thunderbolt Mountain by Captain Marvel. Gargan was later seen with the other Thunderbolts in Washington. The Skrulls attempted to trick him into killing normal humans to find out which of them are Skrulls. Osborn attempted to prevent the symbiote from killing anyone by threatening to kill Mac Gargan and promising to help satisfy his "urges" later, only for Gargan to reveal that the threat he appeared to pose to civilians was a ruse in order to draw out a disguised Skrull. Venom played a huge part in fighting the Skrulls. He was seen slashing and eating the Skrulls all at once. He soon joined the Thunderbolts and the remaining heroes for the final battle a gainst the Skrulls. During the battle, he was a force to be reckoned with. With some help from Spider-Man, Brock subdued Gargan and nearly destr oyed the symbiote. Norman Osborn used a sample of the Anti-Venom's symbiote from Mac Gargan and created a poisonous counter to its healing powers by combining the sample with the immune system of Freak. Mac Gargan was injected with the "cure" and was given a new Scorpion battlesuit, which contai ned the poison, until the symbiote could recover. Anti-Venom tracked down Gargan at Oscorp. After a grueling battle "Ven-orpion" injected the poison into Anti-Venom and seemingly killed the suit. He then attempted to kill Brock but the symbiote tried holding him back, still caring for its former host. The symbiote gained its strength and broke though the Scorpion suit. Gargan gave up but promised that he would get past this problem and would someday finish Brock. Venom, along with most of the Thunderbolts team, attempted to kill his partner Songbird on the orders of Osborn. Facing Venom, Songbird was defeated and almost eaten by Venom, but escaped with help from the Swordsman. Impersonating Spider-Man as a Dark Avenger Osborn gave Venom a medication that reset the symbiote to the size it was when it originally possessed Spider-Man. However, the symbiote resumed its feral traits whenever Venom attacked an enemy. Norman Osborn formed his Dark Avengers, providing new identities to some of his former Thunderbolts. Norman introduced him as the Amazing Spider-Man in his new Avengers. Later, attempting to find out Norman Osborn's plans for His son, the real Spider-Man, with the aid of the Invisible Woman, managed to capture Gargan by using a sonic generator and took his place to infiltrate the Dark Avengers. During the Dark Avengers first mission against Morgana Le Fay, Morgan's magic affected Venom, causing him to lose and gain control of himself randomly. Venom ate Ares and fought Hawkeye (Secretly Bullseye). Venom later coughed up Ares and returned to normal. After Morgana was defeated Hawkeye promised to kill Mac one day for trying to eat him while he was under Morgan's control. Mac defeated a bank robber called General Wolfram who he took to an abandoned roof top and consumed his arm. He then took the money Wolfram stole and spent it on a stripper. After getting reprimanded by Norman Osborn for eating Wolfram's arm, Gargan killed the stripper and placed her dead body in J. Jonah Jameson's bed in order to frame him. Venom and the Dark Avengers attacked Asgard on Norman Osborn's authority. He battled the Asgardians and the heroes who came to their aid. He soon realized that defeat and bitter retribution was inevitable and chose to enjoy himself by devouring Asgardians. He was soon confronted by Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel who ripped Gargan from his symbiote. Gargan and the Dark Avengers were arrested. Having the Symbiote Taken From Him After the Seige event, Mac was taken to a government facility, Where the symbiote was forcibly removed from him. Mac was locked up in prison for a short time until Alister Smythe restored him as Scorpian, thus officially ending his tenture as Venom. The Symbiote's Fate The symbiote was taken to a secret facility where it was being prepared to be used by the government for project Rebirth 2.0, A.K.A. Agent Venom .